Carcabuey Location

Local Information

Ayuntamiento de Carcabuey

Carcabuey information

If you're looking for a village filled with legend, then Carcabuey is just the place you're looking for. Just like the village itself, the mysteries of this town revolve around the castle.

The castle of Carcabuey was built in medieval times and houses the hermitage of the Virgin of María Santísima del Castillo de Carcabuey. When you visit this hermitage notice the paraphernalia hanging about on the walls, crutches and other items that have been cast off by those who no longer need them. Yes, this virgin is believed to have performed numerous miracles and she is revered by the local community.

The castle itself has gone down in history for a battle between King Alfonso X and his rival Sancho. As the story goes, the King had ordered everyone to stay inside the castle no matter what. His rival knew that in order to emerge victorious over the local population he needed to get the army out onto open ground. He learned that the governer's daughter had a "secret" lover and therefore devised a plan to lure her away from the castle to meet her true love and escape together. In this way, he was sure the governer would call out the troops to go after the girl and bring her back.

The governer, a man named Pero Nuño Tello, was committed to total loyalty to his king. He therefore refused to send out the troops thus losing his daughter forever as she fled with her lover.

Interestingly, when Sancho later became King, he was sorry for the injury he had caused to the governer and he called Pero to his court to make amends. However, he was only able to meet with Pero's dead body as the governer committed suicide in order to present the King with the only loyal part of himself (his dead body) he could offer. His spirit, as the legend goes, would never bow to Sancho.

So, there, in the stories of the Virgin María Santísima and Pero Nuño's tragedy we have the legends of Carcabuey.